Syracuse vs. St. John's
Student-Athlete Quotes
Player Quotes
Syracuse vs. St. Johns
March 2, 2010
Carrier Dome – Syracuse N.Y.
Andy Rautins, Senior, Guard
On how Senior Night felt…
“It was a great way to go out. I really appreciate the support from the fans, packing 26,000 in; especially after coming down from 34,000. Arinze [Onuaku] played fantastic. The energy in the Dome was phenomenal tonight. I couldn’t think of a better way for us to go out.”
On his many assists to Arinze…
“We were just playing Syracuse basketball out there, being unselfish and being in the right spots. Arinze played really aggressive tonight. He’s very easy to find and he made himself available. I thank him for that.”
On being BIG EAST champs…
“It feels great. A lot of vindication right now, but we still have a lot of work to do. We’re not going to be satisfied just yet. We still have 10 more games to go. I don’t think anyone around here is going to be satisfied unless we win a National Championship.”
Arinze Onuaku, Senior, Center
On being able to hoist up the BIG EAST trophy…
“It’s great. Freshman year we won the BIG EAST tournament, but never the regular season. After the season that we’ve had, anything short [of a BIG EAST Championship] would have been a disappointment for us. Coming into the season, I think we were picked sixth, and proving them wrong, it’s been great for our team.”
On how far he and Andy Rautins have come as players…
“It’s funny, Andy [Rautins] and I were just talking about it. We both came in underrated. I came in as an underrated guy and Andy came in as an underrated guy. From day one we’ve been working hard. One thing is we have always believed in ourselves. We’ve been working hard and it shows; it’s paid off.”
On having his family come up to see him play for the first time…
“It’s special. My mom hasn’t seen me play much in person. For her to come all the way up here for me on my Senior Day, it’s unbelievable just to have my family here right now.”
Scoop Jardine, Sophomore, Guard
On his feelings about being BIG EAST champions…
“Coach Boeheim was just saying that we are the second team that he has coached to do that [to win the regular season BIG EAST Championship outright]. I’m happy to be a part of that. I am happy to be a part of this whole year. We were picked sixth in the BIG EAST. We wanted to be no. 1, so we proved a lot of people wrong in that aspect. We’re just going to continue to try to prove people wrong all year. That’s our motto to keep our motivation. We weren’t picked to be this good after losing Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf, and Paul Harris. To be no. 1 feels pretty good.”
On if he felts any jitters from being the no. 1 team in the country…
“Not really, it’s hard to come off a game like Villanova then to come to this game. I think we did a great job keeping our composure and playing Syracuse basketball; getting off running, filling lanes, and playing defense. We did a great job tonight.”
On how it feels to be the top-ranked team in the country…
“You’re going to get everyone’s best shot being no.1. A close friend of mine told me that we were going to get everybody’s best shot and we have to come out and be on our “A” game because we’re going to get the best from everybody. We are going to try to go down and win a game at Louisville knowing that they came in our house and beat us. We just have to keep playing basketball from here on out.”
